Pouliot and Yakapov are UFA

[RonJeremy]

Do we have any interest in either of these underachieving players, if the price is right.

[OccamsRazor]

2 minutes ago, RonJeremy said:

Do we have any interest in either of these underachieving players, if the price is right.

 

I would take a look at Pouliot maybe....but Yak wouldn't survive in Philly...Hak would eat him alive.

[RonJeremy]

Pouliout would be an upgrade over Manning as a 6th or 7th guy, Yakopov would be an upgrade over Weal or Weise, which isn't saying much...

[BobbyClarkeFan16]

I think Pouliot would be a great fit on the bottom pairing with either Hagg or Gudas. Hagg/Gudas continues to play their defensive role and Pouliot gets to play the Del Zotto role. I think it could be a good fit. 

 

I want no part of Yakupov. Unfortunately, Dallas Eakins ruined him and he's never been the same since. 

[AJgoal]

Poulliot signed for 1 year, $1.1 Million in Vancouver.

[OccamsRazor]

1 hour ago, RonJeremy said:

Do we have any interest in either of these underachieving players, if the price is right.

 

Well you can scratch Pouliot he just resigned for one year with the Canucks.

[ruxpin]

1 hour ago, RonJeremy said:

Pouliout would be an upgrade over Manning as a 6th or 7th guy, Yakopov would be an upgrade over Weal or Weise, which isn't saying much...

I don't think Yakopov is an upgrade on the contents of an 85 year old man's used Depends. 

 

I'm not sure whether or not that means he's an upgrade over Weal or Weise, but I have zero interest. 

[JR Ewing]

I don't think I've ever seen a worse mental aptitude for the sport of hockey than Nail Yakupov.

 

[ruxpin]

50 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

I don't think I've ever seen a worse mental aptitude for the sport of hockey than Nail Yakupov.

 

Yeah, it's not just work ethic (it's also that). He's dumber than dog ####. He's hockey's answer to J. R. Smith (the Cleveland Cavaliers' resident paste-eating moron.  They made him quit playing football in high school because at the beginning when they said, "call it in the air," he kept yelling, "It's a quarter!") 

[JR Ewing]

1 hour ago, ruxpin said:

Yeah, it's not just work ethic (it's also that). He's dumber than dog ####. He's hockey's answer to J. R. Smith (the Cleveland Cavaliers' resident paste-eating moron.  They made him quit playing football in high school because at the beginning when they said, "call it in the air," he kept yelling, "It's a quarter!") 

 

I'll copy/paste a comment I made about Yakupov almost a year ago:

 

 

Nail Yakupov is quick, elusive and has a cannon shot. But, if you watch him, one thing is crystal clear: he doesn't really know how to play hockey, and his lack of ability to process the game punishes player and team at every turn. He skates the puck into coverage, doesn't know who/how to backcheck, and even though he has a great shot, he doesn't know how to get himself into position to receive a one-time pass so that he can let it go.

 

When he was the Oilers, there was a sequence where Darnell Nurse spent around 20 seconds battling with David Backes for the puck, won it and passed it Yakupov outside the line. Yak promptly turned and skated back into the defensive zone and passed it back to Nurse, who once again had Backes all over him in a New York minute. Another time, Patrick Maroon was working like a demon to keep possession along the boards, deep in the Jets zone, and was double-teamed by two players. Yakupov stood 5 feet away, watching the entire thing, not really knowing what he should do. Maroon lost the puck and the Jets cleared. Things like these are constant issues with him, and whether it's an issue of having too many coaches in his head or an inability to process the game at the NHL level, they are a real problem. He's not a player with 5 years of experience, but rather a player with 1 year of experience 5 times.

 

TSN's Ryan Rishaug was told by an Oilers source that Yakupov is very willing to put in hard work, but only in the areas which he's already good at or enjoys doing. Thus, last summer, he spent the bulk of his time working on his shot, especially the one-timer, even though shooting the puck is one of the things he can already do. There has been a steadfast refusal to work on the parts of his game which are not at an NHL level. When Rishaug asked him, this week, what he needs to do to improve his game, Yakupov replied "Nothing new. I just need to keep doing the same things I've always done."

 

He seems like a nice kid, but I don't know how being patient can work with somebody who has repeatedly said that he won't change his approach for anybody. Not any one of Ralph Krueger, Dallas Eakins, Todd Nelson, Todd McLellan, Ken Hitchcock or Mike Yeo could impress upon Yakupov the need to work within the team structure. Oleg Znarok, coach of the 2014 Russian Olympic team said that they simply couldn't take him on, regardless of how talented he is, because he refuses to work on his game. During the past World Hockey Championships, he was sent home early by Znarok, for the very same reasons, and when asked, Yakupov said that he fully intends to play hockey just like he did when he was 10 years old. You can't play successfully at the NHL level when you play the game like you did as a little boy.

 

TLDR - Nail Yakupov has million dollar tools, but a ten cent head for the game.

 

[ruxpin]

20 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

TLDR - Nail Yakupov has million dollar tools, but a ten cent head for the game.

Body my Nautilus, brain by Mattel.